[GameSpot] - Bowser Owes Nintendo Even More Money

[343iBot]

Bowser will not only have to pay for his crimes, he'll also have to pay Nintendo for all the trouble he caused. That is to say Gary Bowser, a Canadian hacker who pleaded guilty to a criminal modding enterprise in October. Now in addition to the fines imposed by the federal lawsuit, he also has to pay Nintendo of America even more in damages.

Eurogamer reports that Bowser, 51, has been ordered to pay $10 million to settle the Nintendo lawsuit, which is in addition to the $4.5 million from the federal suit. The federal action also includes up to 10 years in prison.

Since 2013, Bowser worked with a modchip team to make a business out of selling console mods that enabled piracy. In his guilty plea, he admitted that he had "developed, manufactured, marketed, and sold a variety of circumvention devices" that enabled users to play pirated versions of games.

Bowser was found in the Dominican Republic and deported to the United States to face charges. Though he contributed to losses estimated between $65 million and $100 million, he says he only personally received $500-1,000 per month. Using advertising revenue, though, his total gains increased to about $320,000. Still, that's a far cry from the total $14.5 million in damages he's been ordered to pay.

While he's demonstrably guilty of serious crimes, though, you have to give him some credit for committing to the bit and doing his best to terrorize Mario.

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